“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that too much. I just heard about the trades last night so I haven’t really put a whole lot of thought to it, I’m up in the bush with my kids, fishing. I haven’t put the Xs and Os together – I’m sure you guys have looked at it seven ways from Sunday and tried to figure out who wins or loses. At the end of the day, as I said before, having been traded a number of times, it’s always difficult. They both played their hearts out in Philly, but sometimes as I said, you’ve got to make tough decisions and you’ve got to make moves, and sometimes it may hurt and may feel like you’re making your team worse to make it better," Pronger said. [full transcript below]

What was your reaction to yesterday’s events?

“I think when you make a move like that to get a goalie and you’ve got to pay him, you’ve got to get the money somewhere. Time and again in the salary cap era, you’ve got to give to get. Unfortunately for us, those two guys were traded. It sucks as a teammate. You hate to see guys go. They were for all intents and purposes the face of the franchise for four of those six years, if not for the six years they were here. I’m sure it’s tough for them. The Philadelphia Flyers, it’s all they really know. I’ve gone through it a number of times, and sometimes a move is healthy for you.”

Were you able to reach out to Jeff or Mike?

“I’m going to give them a call today. Having gone through it a number of times, you kind of need a day to gather your thoughts and kind of get your wits about you. It’s certainly not an easy thing. I think it makes it a little bit easier that they’re both single and don’t have to lug around kids and logistically and that stuff, but it’s still very tough to be traded and I’m sure both of them have mixed emotions.”

Is the team closer to winning a Cup now?

“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that too much. I just heard about the trades last night so I haven’t really put a whole lot of thought to it, I’m up in the bush with my kids, fishing. I haven’t put the Xs and Os together – I’m sure you guys have looked at it seven ways from Sunday and tried to figure out who wins or loses. At the end of the day, as I said before, having been traded a number of times, it’s always difficult. They both played their hearts out in Philly, but sometimes as I said, you’ve got to make tough decisions and you’ve got to make moves, and sometimes it may hurt and may feel like you’re making your team worse to make it better.”

Does this team have a better locker room today?

“I don’t know. I don’t really know those other guys they brought in. I played against Wayne Simmonds for one or two years when I was in Anaheim, but other than that, when you play on the East Coast, you don’t really play the West very often, and vice-versa. When I was coming out here I didn’t really know many of the guys here, because I’d played in the West pretty much my whole career. I can’t really speak to that right now, having no luxury to know any of the three guys we picked up.”

Did you think there was a problem in the room?

“I don’t think anybody would say a year ago when we went to the Stanley Cup Final that there was a chemistry problem. [That year] I think our play was very inconsistent, and we were trying to find ourselves as a team with a new coach and a new system. I think the players were trying to find where they needed to be and how we needed to play to be successful as a group. Last year, you’re coming off a tough defeat in the Stanley Cup Final in overtime, we got off to a good start, and nobody seemed to think we had a problem then. As the season wore on, for whatever reason, we just didn’t turn that corner and continue to get better and peak at the right time. That’s disappointing, and it’s tough. I don’t think there was necessarily a rift, I think we just needed more life in the locker room. It all has to do with your play on the ice. If you’re playing well on the ice, there’s never any questions as to who’s doing what or is there a rift, does this guy like that guy, and all of the rest of the stuff that gets thrown out. If you play well on the ice, nobody wants to write about that because everything’s going good.”

Do you want to be the captain?

“You know what, I haven’t put much thought in it to be honest with you. This is all very, very fresh to a lot of us. Obviously I’d have to talk to Homer and Lavi and see what their thoughts are, and kind of go from there. You don’t nominate yourself. I’ve never been part of a team where somebody nominates himself. I think that may be a little bit premature to start talking about stuff like that. It’s one day after two huge trades on our team and in the history of the Flyers, so I don’t think that’s in anybody’s minds right now.”

Matt Rhule's first Baylor hires include 4 Temple assistants

Matt Rhule's first Baylor hires include 4 Temple assistants

WACO, Texas -- New Baylor coach Matt Rhule has made some immediate Texas connections by hiring the president of the state's high school coaches who is a former Bears receiver.

Rhule announced his first five hires with the Bears on Friday, three days after being named Baylor's coach. They include four members from his staff at Temple and David Wetzel, the head coach and athletic director the past 13 seasons at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio.

Sean Padden will serve as Baylor's director of football operations, similar to his role at Temple the past four years.

Rhule didn't immediately announce the titles and job duties for Wetzel, Francis Brown, Mike Siravo and Evan Cooper. There was also no indication of when the rest of his staff would be completed.

Brown and Siravo were defensive assistants at Temple, and Cooper was director of player personnel for the Owls.

Wetzel, who has coached in the state high school ranks for 25 years, was serving as president of the Texas High School Football Coaches Association. He lettered at Baylor in 1990 and 1991 while playing for Grant Teaff, and also earned a master's degree from the school in 1994. Before Reagan, he was head coach at schools in Killeen and Austin.

Wetzel told the Waco Tribune-Herald that he expects to play a major role in recruiting, but didn't know yet if he'd be coaching offense or defense.

"Given the opportunity, it's really a unique deal," Wetzel told the newspaper. "I feel like it's God's timing for me to be in the right place at the right time."

When Rhule was introduced Wednesday in Waco, he said he had already received about 480 text messages, many from coaches. He also didn't rule out the possibility of some of the current Baylor assistants staying, but said he hadn't had a chance to meet with them. Those assistants were retained from former coach Art Briles' staff with Jim Grobe as acting head coach this season.

NoteBaylor announced Friday that Jalen Pitre, a defensive back from Stafford, Texas, signed a financial aid agreement that will allow him to enroll for the spring 2017 semester after graduating from high school early. Before Rhule was hired, Pitre was the only player verbally committed for Baylor's recruiting class in February. He had 83 tackles, six interceptions and four forced fumbles as a senior.

Dorial Green-Beckham didn't support any charity with his cleats last Sunday.

In reality, he was funding the NFL.

The Eagles' receiver was fined $6,076 by the NFL for wearing Yeezy cleats (Kanye West's shoes), which had no affiliation to a charitable organization or cause, CSNPhilly.com has confirmed. Players around the NFL last weekend wore decorative spikes supporting a charity or cause they felt passionately about as part of the league's My Cleats, My Cause promotion. Green-Beckham was fined because his cleats were unapproved by the league; earlier this season Houston receiver DeAndre Hopkins was fined for wearing Yeezy cleats.